{"id":1246,"date":"2022-10-17T19:11:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T00:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/?p=1246"},"modified":"2024-04-26T14:26:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T19:26:42","slug":"how-to-become-a-system-administrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/how-to-become-a-system-administrator\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Become A System Administrator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IT operations are the nervous system of any organization, and the systems administrator is one of the most critical players in keeping IT hardware, software, and applications secure and running. The system administrator owns nearly all IT systems in conjunction with the network administrator. System administrators are some of the most in-demand IT professionals, commanding salaries ranging from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indeed.com\/career\/systems-administrator\/salaries\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$75,000 to over $100,000<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> per year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Do Systems Administrators Do?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the network administrator focuses on a company&#8217;s servers and digital networks, the systems administrator is responsible for physical IT assets. The day-to-day responsibilities of the systems administrator can include<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Physical security of assets like computers, storage devices, and mobile phones<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Managing user permissions and access levels\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Documentation and record keeping of IT assets\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planning and executing disaster recovery and backup plans\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Installing and updating applications on user systems\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Managing Single Sign On (SSO) and password applications and policies\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monitoring system metrics like disk usage, DNS, and CPU\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prerequisites to Become A Systems Administrator\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost all organizations will require systems administrator applicants to have a bachelor&#8217;s degree in computer education, engineering, or information technology. Some organizations may consider applicants with an associate&#8217;s degree in computer science or IT field if the applicant has enough supplementary credentials and certifications.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you&#8217;re pursuing a systems administrator job in finance, banking, or with a larger company, a master&#8217;s degree may be required. The most commonly sought Master&#8217;s degrees for systems administrators are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Master&#8217;s of Technology in information technology<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Master&#8217;s of Technology in computer science<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Master of Science in system administration and networking<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Master of Business Administration in system management<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Systems Administrator Certifications and Credentials\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In almost all cases, education alone won&#8217;t be enough to land a system administrator role; you&#8217;ll need additional certifications. There&#8217;s a wide range of certifications and courses that can help further your knowledge and showcase your skills to employers, but there are four key certifications that stand out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CompTIA Security+<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/comptia-security-plus-certification-training-classes.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CompTIA Security+<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> sets the baseline skills for core IT security functions. It teaches skills like security monitoring, incident response, and the basics of cryptographic standards. Systems administrators can benefit from CompTIA Security+ by learning about risk assessments, responding to security events, and setting up secure systems and infrastructure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CompTIA Server+<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/comptia-server-certification-training-classes.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CompTIA Server+<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> teaches administrator-level IT professionals the skills to deploy, manage, and troubleshoot servers. System administrators will be able to showcase skills like maintaining and troubleshooting physical server hardware, security practices, and disaster recovery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/cisco-training-classes-ccna-certification.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CCNA certification<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> teaches the entry-level basics of networking concepts. Systems administrator hopefuls will learn critical skills like network monitoring, IP protocol routing, and installing physical assets like switches, firewalls, routers, and wireless access points.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microsoft has multiple certifications that can benefit systems administrators, and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/outline.asp?ccode=aaz104\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Azure Administrator<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> course can be one of the most useful. Systems administrators will learn the skills to deploy and manage environmental aspects like governance, storage, and identity monitoring.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ready to become a systems administrator?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you&#8217;re ready to become a systems administrator, ONLC Training Centers is your career education and advancement partner.\u00a0 With hundreds of training centers nationwide, online options, and expert instructors, ONLC can help you build your career from pre-hire through retirement.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IT operations are the nervous system of any organization, and the systems administrator is one of the most critical players in keeping IT hardware, software, and applications secure and running. The system administrator owns nearly all IT systems in conjunction with the network administrator. System administrators are some of the most in-demand IT professionals, commanding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-certifications"],"aioseo_notices":[],"modified_by":"blogadmin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1248,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions\/1248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onlc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}